Girl Thing were a British–Dutch

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

, consisting of members Jodi Albert, Michelle Barber, Anika Bostelaar, Linzi Martin, and Nikki Stuart. They were formed in 1998 by

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

and were originally intended to rival the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...

, but their success was minor and short-lived before disbanding in 2001. The group reformed in 2013 for the second series of ''

The Big Reunion ''The Big Reunion'' is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed ...

'' to perform a one-off gig at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

in 2014.

Career

In 1998,

, having previously turned down the

, decided to form his own girl group. Girl Thing's debut single " Last One Standing", written and produced by the Steelworks production team of Tim Lever, Mike Percy and Eliot Kennedy. "Last One Standing" received major promotion and media attention and was expected to top the UK Singles Chart with ease. Record company executives funneled huge amounts of money into the promotional campaign, including an appearance at the top of the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

. Girl Thing even pre-recorded their congratulatory interview with

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. However, the song ended up only charting at number eight. It also made the Australian top 20, where it achieved gold certification. Linzi Martin co-wrote the song "Bounce" for

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of th ...

(with Hawes and Kirtley) that featured on his second album, which went on to sell 3 million copies in 2000. After the failure of their second single " Girls on Top", which reached number 25, the album release was cancelled in Britain. It was, however, still released in Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and Japan. The band also recorded the songs "Young, Free & Happy", "Extraordinary Love", "Summer Daze", "If That's What It Takes", "Last Goodbye" and "You Can Run but You Can't Hide". The band also recorded " Pure and Simple", before it was given to

Hear'Say Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV (TV network), ITV reality TV show ''Popstars (British TV series), Popstars'' in February 2001, the first UK series of the international ''Popstars'' Media franchise, franch ...

, the winners of ITV's ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

''. In December 2013, the band reformed to take part in the second series of

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

's ''

'', and performed a one-off concert in March 2014

Post-split

* Jodi Albert appeared on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

soap opera ''

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'' as Debbie Dean before joining short-lived girl group Wonderland. She married

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

singer

Kian Egan Kian John Francis Egan (born 29 April 1980) is an Irish pop singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as a member of the pop group Westlife. Westlife have released twelve albums, embarked on thirteen world tours, and won numerous award ...

in 2009 with whom she has three sons. * Michelle Barber worked as a presenter on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

. * In July 2007, Anika Bostelaar released a single called "King of the Dancefloor" under the name 'Kiana'. She also passed the audition in the Dutch-Flemish TV programme '' K2 zoekt K3'', but she did not qualify for the live shows. In 2016, Anika Bostelaar created a Dutch girl group named Hello August. Hello August released their debut single "Wrong Chick" in January 2018. * Nicola Harrington makes occasional appearances on the ITV programme ''

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

''. * In 2014, Linzi Martin auditioned for ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'', but failed to get through to bootcamp.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

{{Authority control English girl groups English pop music groups British pop girl groups Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups disestablished in 2001 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 Musical groups disestablished in 2014 Pop music groups from London